What Every Nonprofit Needs to Know About Technology
[[Notes_from_the_Non-Profit_Boot_Camp|Back to Notes]] John Kenyon www.johnkenyon.org Who is John? 15 years helping non-profits, ex CompuMentor; wrote eNonprofit guide; worked in groundspring.org; teaches Masters of Non-profit course in USF Show of hands *Orgs with 30+ people 10% *10-30 people 50% *1-10 people 40% *How many have a technology plan – 1 maybe 4 *90%+ don’t have a plan What technology should I use? = What house should I buy? Key question : What do you need? Nonprofits & technology Appropriate technology, how to get. Involves: *Systems analysis – what is my context, my competition, how do they serve *Planning – you get what you plan for *Hardware *Software *Databases *The internet *Online services *The future *Keep coming back to what you need *Don’t ask the vendors Work systems framework *Elements / Principles *Customers - know what the customers need / Please the customer *Products & services / ditto *Business process – to produce p&s / Perform the work efficiently – if your inefficient, technology will just speed up your inefficiency *Participants / Serve the participants *Information / Create value from information *Technology – call the vendor’s customer service, see how long it takes to to get served / minimize effort consumed by technology *Infrastructure – other things like phones, structure etc / deploy infrastructure as a genuine resource *Context – who’s your competition – spend 20-30 hours researching who do, how do, what tech they use, history Balance results, people, process *Users and audiences *Board *Staff *Major donors *Members *Prospects Systems & Planning *Roles – identify team – cio function, org perspective; consultant function – outside tech expert; org stakeholder – process/people perspective; end-user perspective Key elements of a plan *Organization profile *Technology vision statement *Project – description, benefits, tasks, costs *Budget *Timeline/critical path Key steps in planning *Assess current tech & organization readiness *Create the team, consider consulting support *State the vision, develop criteria, set goals *Create components of the plan *Establish priorities *Share/explain the plan, get feedback *Make decision, develop budget & timeline *Implement the plan, train staff *Evaluate: technology, implementation, process, planning *Revise plan based on evaluation Security & Privacy *Data security *Backups *Restores *Privacy policies (see groundspring.org’s) 10 Nonprofit Tech Commandments *After people, data is your most important resource *Your results depend on your investment in data (staff time, planning, training, resources, allocated) *Define and know your data needs and uses *Seek out data and keep it flowing *Define your needs in detail before tool selection. Have tools? Regularly review new tools *Honestly look at your information systems (human, data, and communication elements) *Maintain commitment of board and staff to technology *Have an ongoing conversation about data *Keep in touch with other organizations *Knowledge eases fear, stay in the know 70/30 rule – support & maintenance account for 70% of your tech cost Recap *Business processes are the key *Appropriate technology : need, culture, resources *Measure twice, cut once *Learn about the enonprofit & webification of stakeholders *Technology can transform organizations Resources Books *ManagingNonprofits.org (management) *Work for good (planning) *The accidental techie (hands-on) *The eNonprofit guide to ASPs, Internet services, and online software *Online fundraising handbook Internet *Techsoup.org – nonprofits + technology *N-TEN.org – listservs & resources *Idealware.org – software reviews *TechFinder.org, techunderground.org – tech consultants *Craigslist.org/../non-profit – recruitment *Successful internet strategies *A decade of online fundraising category:bootcamp